Compton-Effect

Device list

1. Screened Cs-137 radioactive source, which is fixed to the base plate of the experi-
ment
2. NaJ(Tl) cristal connected to a photomultiplier
3. Main amplifier
4. Multichannel analyzer (MCA)
5. High voltage supply
6. Oscilloscope
7. Cables and connectors

Literature

1.) Evans, Compton Effekt, in: Handbuch der Physik Bd. XXXIV (1958)
2.) Evans, The Atomic Nucleus, McGraw Hill, New York 1955
3.) H. Neuert, Kernphysikalische Meßverfahren, Verlag G. Braun, Karlsruhe 1966
4.) J.M. Schonkeren, Photomultipliers, Valvo-GmbH, Hamburg 1970, und Valvo-Handbuch;
Photovervielfacher, Valvo-GmbH, Hamburg 1978-79
5.) F-Praktikum Compton Effekt ETH Zuerich
http://www.phys.ethz.ch/phys/dep/dienste/unterrichtsbetr/vp/VP-Expliste/Compton-
Effekt.pdf
6.) The Scintillation Detector As A Spectrometer
http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/Depts/ME/Nuclear/Reactor/Labs/R-scin2.html
7.) Gamma Ray Scintillation Counting
http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/Depts/ME/Nuclear/Reactor/Labs/R-scin.html
8.) Gamma Ray Interactions With Matter
http://www.nis5.lanl.gov/PANDA/00326397.pdf

1
Introduction
When interacting with matter monochromatic electromagnetic radiation with the fre-
quency ν and the wave vector k behaves like a totality of identical particles, named
photons with

the energy E = h̄ω = hν

2π
the momentum p = h̄k = hν
c
with k = λ
, c = νλ

and the mass m= E

c2
= hν
c2

When passing through matter these photons can interact with the electrons of the
matter. The COMPTON-effect decribes an inelastic scattering of a photon with a free
electron. If the electron’s initial binding energy is small compared to the photon energy
(EB
hν) then the stuck electron can be considered initially free and unbound. Fig. 1
shows this inelastic scattering process. The kinematics of this scattering (conservation
of momentum and energy) lead to the energy of the scattered photon E γ
and to the
e
energy of the scattered electron Ekin :

y e-
E γ = hν
θe
θγ x
pγ = hν
c E'γ = hν' , p'γ = hcν'

Figure 1: The kinematics for Compton scattering

h·ν
Eγ
= (1)
1+ (1
− cosΘγ )
h·ν
me ·c2
1
e
Ekin = h · ν(1 − ) (2)
1 + me ·c2 (1 − cosΘγ )
h·ν

where me · c2 is the electron rest mass (me · c2 = 0.51MeV ).

2
 We find that the maximum energy, which can be transfered to the electron via the
Compton process, is given when Θγ = π (backscattering of the photon). This leads to

2·ε
(Ekin
e
)M aximal = h · ν · (3)
1 + 2ε

with ε = mhν
e ·c
2 . This energy is known as the ”Compton-edge.”

The differential cross section for the inelastic scattering process is (Klein-Nischina
formula):

dbc re2
= {−ε(1 + 2ε)cosθγ + (1 + ε + ε2 )(1 + cos2 θγ )
dΩγ 2[1 + ε(1 − cosθγ )]3
cm2 · sr −1
−ε cos3 θγ } [ ] (4)
ELECT RON
Where:

e2
re = 4πε0 me ·c2
classical electron radius

ε= hν
me ·c2
reduced energy of the incoming photon

θγ the scattering angle of the photon in respect to the incoming direction

The differential cross section therefore depends on the energy of the incoming pho-
ton and the scattering angle Θγ .
The experimental task is to measure the energy of the scattered photon using formula
1 and the differential cross section.

3
Experimental setup

MA MCA
PA
PM

OSZI
N
aJ
(T
l)

HV
Φ = 4,7 cm PM:Photomultiplier
PA: Pre-Amplifier
Θγ HV: High Voltage
E' γ MA: Main Amplifier
Al Pole
MCA: Multi Channel
Analyzer
r

OSZI: Oscilloscope

Eγ
r: Distance between d
Al Pole and Detektor
window Hole ( Φ = 1 cm )
d: Distance between
Hole and Al Pole

115mm
Lead Wall
137
CS
55

Figure 2: Sketch of the experimental setup

4
 The detector consists of a NaJ(Tl)-scintillator cristal, which is enclosed in an alu-
minum shell, the photomultiplier and the integrated preamplifier. In the scintillator
luminescense-light is generated. The photoeffect leads to the creation of elecrons on
the photocathode of the photomultiplier. In the photomultiplier those electrons are
multiplied with a system of dynodes, which results in a detectable signal at the anode
(output) of the photomultiplier. This signal is fed into a preamplifier and then into the
main amplifier. In a multichannel analyzer the amplitude of the signal is registered
and sorted by amplitude. If one irradiates the NaJ-detector with monoenergetic pho-
tons and analyses the scintillation light with the MCA, one notices in principle three
peaks: Figure 3 shows as an example the spectrum of a γ-energy of 2.04 MeV.
Rate (Counts/sec)

8 Compton Distribution
6 Pair Production
4
Photo-
2 Peak

0,5 1,0
Signal Amplitude

Figure 3: Signal distribution in an NaJ(Tl) cristal for a γ-

radiation of 2.04 MeV if only primary processes occur.

The three peaks are clearly to see. The peak in the middle belongs to the Compton-
edge with a wide Compton-distribution. The two other peaks belong to the photo-effect
and pair-production. In all of these three cases we have either a total (photo-effect
and pair-production) or partial (Compton process) energy transfer of the photon on
the electron. These energetic electrons stimulate light emission in the scintillator by
means of ionisation and excitation processes. In this experiment we use the photopeak
for a quantitative measurement.

5
Experimental procedure
The signal processing is shown in fig. 2. The signals from the anode of the photomuli-
plier are fed into a preamplifier and then into the main amplifier. In a multichannel
analyzer the amplitude of the signal is registered.

Turning On The System:

To receive signals you can either use the photons of the fixed Cs-137-source or the
small Cs-137–source. The attendance will explain the precautions for radioactive
sources. At first the high voltage for the detector must be selected. Turn on the crate-
power (ATTENDED !) and increase the high voltage turning the potentiometer at the
high-voltage-supply. Observe the signals of the preamplifier on the oscillograph, they
must be negative and have an amplitude between 50 and 100 mV. Record the pream-
plifier signals

a) pulse form (sketch)

b) rise time

c) fall time

The signals of the preamplifier are fed into the main amplifier, which is supposed
to

i) amplify the signals of the preamplifier in such a way that they are adapted for reg-
istration in the multichannel analyzer (amplitude about + 8 V for 1000 Ω-Input
impedance).

ii) supply pulses of nearly gaussian shape (width 2-8 microseconds). This pulse shape
is the optimum adaption for the analog-to-digital converters (ADC) in the mul-
tichannel analyzer. Turn the small lever at the main amplifier to ”bipolar”.

iii) shorten the decay-time of the pulse to prevent the mixing of two pulses (pile-up
effect)

Observe the signal at the output of the main amplifier and record

a) pulse form (sketch)

b) rise time

c) fall time

The signals of the main amplifier are given on the input of the multichannel analyzer.
The technical assistant will show you how to use the MCA. In principle the MCA is
working in the following way:

6
 The ADC in the MCA transforms the amplitude of the signal to a digital number.
This number is interpreted as an adress in the memory of the MCA. The next time a
signal with this amplitude = adress is received, the content of this adress is incremented
by +1. One can interprete the MCA as a number of counters, which are triggered by
the ADC. The counting rate as a function of the channel number is denoted as a ”spec-
trum”.

Calibration of the MCA

Use the Cs-137 source to record a test spectrum with the MCA and check if you receive
a spectrum of the expected form. The photopeak in the spectrum represents the 661.6
keV photon energy of Cs-137, you should also see the Compton-edge. To measure the
unknown energy of photons, it is necessary to calibrate the MCA. Use the following
γ-ray sources for this calibration:
Cs-137 E = 661.6 keV
Na-22 E = 511.0 keV
Ba-133 E = 356.0 keV
Take care that you are using the full range of the 1024 channels of the MCA (the
Cs-137 peak should be at high channel numbers). With the known photon energies
and the appropriate channel number you can calculate a calibration function (straight
line). This line is then used to calculate unknown photon energies. Show this energy
vs. channel relation in a plot. To find the exact channel number of the photopeak, do
the following:

1) The peak is hard to find just by looking. Therefore derive the channel number of
each photopeak by calculating the weighted average value ”center of gravity”

n
xi · Ni
ns = i=1

n (5)
i=1 Ni

where
n is the number of intervals, each interval is covering 5 channels (for example)
xi is the mean channel number in the interval
Ni is the registered rate in the interval
2) Calculate the calibration function (straight line) and discuss the errors.

7
Experimental setup for the measurement of the Compton-
effect
The setup is shown in fig. 2. It consists of a Cs-137 source (5 mCi), mounted in a
lead-chamber, an aluminum pole as a target and the NaJ(Tl) detector, which can be
fixed at various angles with the aluminum pole as the axle. While the source emits
almost no radiation when kept in ”safe” position, it is right behind a small hole in the
lead chamber when fixed in ”experimental” position. So the γ-ray beam gets a conical
shape and hits the aluminum target. The photons which are scattered with the angle θ
reach the NaJ detector. The detector generates signals proportional to the photon en-
ergy and these signals are registered in the MCA. Now we can analyse the amplitude
and the rate as a function of the scattering angle θ.

Measurement of the energy dependence of Compton-

scattered photons
If photons with an energy E are Compton-scattered at the aluminum target with the
angle θγ , the resulting energy E
after the scattering is
E
E
= , (6)
1+ E
me ·c2
(1 − cosθγ )
where me · c2 is the mass of an electron.

Tasks

1) Measure the energy of the Compton-scattered γ-photons at different angles and

compare the experimental results with the theory. Discuss the errors of the mea-
surement and calculate the error for the unknown value E
.

2) With this value for E
derive the mass of the electron using equation 6 and calculate
the error.

3) Measure the Compton-edge of the 661.6 keV Cs-137 photons.

8
Determination of the cross section for Compton scatter-
ing
The Klein-Nishina formula (formula 4) describes the dfferential cross section for Comp-
ton scattering. One notices that the cross section depends on the energy of the incoming
photon and on the scattering angle θ. To prove this experimentally, we have to measure
the intensity of the scattered photons as a function of the angle. In this measurement
the photons are scattered in the solid angle Ω, which depends on the thickness of the
aluminum pole and the diameter of the detector. We must consider that the NaJ-counter
does not detect all incoming photons. Some photons pass the NaJ-cristal without in-
teraction. The efficiency of the NaJ-cristal to detect photons depends on their energy.
This function is shown in fig. 4. By counting the intensity I(θ) under the photopeak
we can calculate the total number of photons in the NaJ-counter using this effciency
curve. The total intensity of photons in the NaJ-counter is

I(θ) P hotonen
N(θ) = [ ] (7)
e(E) · g(E) sec

where
I(θ) is the measured Intensity in the photopeak [photons/sec]
e(E) the efficiency, see fig. 4
g(E) Normalization function (see fig. 5) to derive the total number of interacting pho-
tons from the intensity I(θ)

If you look at the spectra you will see that there is a background additional to the
photopeak. The background increases with larger scattering angles θ: Compton-edge
and photopeak are getting closer with decreasing energy, and the photopeak distribu-
tion widens with decreasing energy, because the relative error of the signals increases.
To correct the photopeak for this background, use a method which is shown in fig. 7.

9
 1,0

0,5

0,0
0,01 0,1 1 10

Gamma Energy [MeV]

Figure 4: Relative efficiency of the NaJ-counter as a function of the photon energy.

10
 1,0

0,8
Peak to total rate

0,6

0,4

0,2

0,0
0,1 0,2 0,4 0,6 0,8 1 2 4

Gamma Energy [MeV]

Figure 5: From the total number of photons which interact some will have interacted
via the Compton process and some via photo effect. This ratio depends on the cross
sections of the two processes and can be calculated. This ratio is given in fig. 5.

11
Count Rate Count Rate

small θ large θ

Signal Amplitude Signal Amplitude

Figure 6: This sketch is showing the background beneath the photopeak. Notice
that the background increases with increasing scattering angle.

Count rate

L R Channel number

Figure 7: This sketch is showing the method for the analysis of the
photopeak. The three intervals are used to determine the background.

12
 We divide the area around the photopeak into three intervals:

a) the interval (L-R), hich contains the main part of the photopeak. The limits of this
interval are not strictly fixed.

b) One interval with half the width of (L-R) left to the photopeak.

c) One interval with half the width of (L-R) right to the photopeak.

The background-corrected intensity Ic (photon/sec) under the photopeak is de-

rived as follows:

I(θ) − (IL(θ) + IR(θ))

Ic (θ) = [photons/sec] (8)
measured time
Where

I(θ) Number of events in the interval (L-R)

IL(θ) Number of events in the interval left to (L-R)
IR(θ) Number of events in the interval right to (L-R)
The scattering intensity as a function of the scattering angle θ is

Ic (θ) photons
Nc (θ) = [ ] (9)
e(E) · g(E) sec
If the data is analysed in this way, we can experimentally derive the differential
dσ
cross section for Compton scattering. To get the differential cross section dΩ (θ) in the
2 −1 −1
dimension [cm · steradian · Electron ], we have to note that

dσ Nc (θ) cm2
(θ) = [ ] (10)
dΩ ∆Ω · N · N0 ster. · electron
With

Nc (θ) see formula 9

∆Ω geometry factor of the detector
N Number of target electrons
N0 flux of the Cs-137 photons [photons/sec cm 2 ] at the aluminum pole.
The geometry is given by the hole in the lead chamber, the position of the
aluminum pole and the sensitive area of the detector:

13
 Scintillator

Hole Al-Pole
radiated
Detector
area = 4 cm2
Io (registered events
per time interval)

I0  
=⇒ N0 = photons/sec cm2
4
To measure I0 remove the aluminum pole. Since this increases the inten-
sity very much, you have to take care of the dead time of the MCA (look
at the dead time meter).

The values in formula 10 are determined as follows:

1) geometry factor:
∆Ω = rF2
F detector area of the NaJ counter (F = 15.8cm2 )
r distance between aluminum pole and NaJ detector
2) Number of target electrons
L0
N = V0 · ρ · ·Z (11)
A
With
V0 the radiated volume in the aluminum pole V 0 = 5.6cm3
ρ density of aluminum ρ = 2.72g/cm3
A atomic mass of aluminum A = 27
z nuclear charge of aluminum z = 13
L0 Avogadro-Number L0 = 6.02 · 123 (Mol−1 )
Task:
Determine the differential cross section for Compton scattering and compare the re-
sults with the Klein-Nishina formula. Make an estimation of the errors.

14